The Simurgh
The Simurgh (pronounced: "Si-morg") is an Endbringer. Appearance The Simurgh appears as a fifteen-foot tall woman, waif-thin and unclothed. Her hair is almost as long as she is tall and is, like the rest of her form, platinum-white. She has a variety of asymmetrically and apparently randomly placed feathered wings, which appear excessively large compared to her body.Simurgh – A creature that appears as a freakishly tall woman with a countless number of wings fanning out from her body, some fanning out from other wings. A precognitive, telekinetic, clairvoyant with a psychic scream. - Cast (spoiler free) Parts of her are described as being "hollow", or made from carefully placed wings, which trace the outline of the absent body part. Her eyes are a solid gray, described by Krouse as seeming cold. She wraps her three largest wings around her, ostensibly to preserve her modesty, although Krouse doubts, after coming close to her, that she has a sense of modesty at all. Abilities and Powers The Simurgh continuously emits a psychic 'scream' - a type of psychic echolocation that allows her to scan her surroundings while exerting psychic pressure to alter behavior, implant messages, or create compulsions. Her "hibernation" state in orbit allows her to make low-intensity scans of the planet with this sense.Excerpt from Interlude 28 To victims, it is usually perceived as a scream in the back of their minds, constantly changing in pitch and tone. However, she was capable of keeping it inaudible.Cockroaches 28.4 The Simurgh exhibits precognition, perfect awareness of the immediate future, and the more she sings/scans the further it reaches.The Simurgh is shorter than her brothers, and sports a large number of asymmetrical wings. She possesses telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition and a perpetual psychic scream. Seen as the most cunning and intelligent of the three, the Simurgh uses her precognition to employ long term schemes, each with Rube-Goldberg sequences of events, culminating in grave disasters and tragedies. - Cast (in depth)The Simurgh is the third. She's only 15 feet tall but has a massive wingspan. The key to understanding her is her psychic 'scream' - this is basically a kind of psychic echolocation allowing her to scan her surroundings while exerting a psychic pressure to alter behavior, implant messages or create compulsions. She has precognition, perfect awareness of the immediate future, and the more she sings/scans the further it reaches. The byline for dealing with the Simurgh is that you'll probably win the fight but you'll lose the war. She uses these scans to make long-term predictions of behavior and activity (in the order of months and years) to turn human beings into rube-goldberg devices, with whole streams or strings of horrific events occuring in areas she's been active. This includes laying the groundwork for major heroes to be attacked at the opening of a future crisis, or the creation of supervillains of international notoriety. She's a telekinetic capable of tossing buildings, she flies, and her scanning ability lets her borrow and copy techniques and mental powers from others - including the power of tinkers (essentially scanning Iron Man and gaining the ability to make what he can make, then telekinetically pulling together a macro-scale version of his devices from surrounding materials). - Wildbow on Reddit She sees the past in a similar manner, and can focus on a single target for faster information, but is blind to the present moment. The presence of other precognitives obscured possibilities from her sight, as did Eidolon and Scion, and certain other powers. She could see things that were otherwise obscured by looking at people's perceptions of them, or otherwise observing their consequences, as well as by predicting their most likely course. She uses these scans to make long-term predictions of behavior and activity (in the order of months and years) to turn human beings into rube-goldberg devices, with whole streams or strings of horrific events occurring in areas she's been active. She can influence machines as well as people.Excerpt from Cell 22.6 Her scan allows her to borrow and copy techniques and mental powers - including Tinker powers - and then telekinetically pull together a macro-scale version of their devices from the surrounding materials. With enough knowledge of a subject, she can evoke memories subconsciously through her posture and actions. By placing a target in a stressful environment, this can be used to cause hallucinations. The Simurgh is also a powerful telekinetic capable of tossing buildings and flight.Excerpt from Migration 17.1Migration 17.2 She could strike a hundred targets simultaneously with thrown debris.Migration 17.3 She could create "decoys" out of debris capable of fooling Scion.Speck 30.5Venom 29.2Her telekinesis was seemingly Manton-limited,Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.4 but could still throw capes around by manipulating debris, cape-created material and costumes. Like all Endbringers, she is immensely durable and strong. History Background The Simurgh was the third Endbringer to appear, appearing just after the turn of the millennium. She first appeared in Lausanne, Switzerland in December 2002Interlude 24.x, and initially appeared benevolent and cooperative while psychically manipulating the people around her. Most residents of the Swiss capital, due to exposure to her mental manipulation, became violent and aggressive, attempting to kill as many people as they could and disrupt the world's resistance to the Endbringers as much as possible. This caused havoc throughout the country and the continent with wide ranging consequences. Lausanne's population was barricaded in and bombed. James Tagg was one of the people involved in that campaign.Cell 22.2 She attacked London on August 12th, 2003. It is unknown what the outcome of this event was. The Simurgh was responsible for the corruption of Sphere, leading him to become the serial killer and Slaughterhouse Nine member known as Mannequin.Plague 12.7 She also attacked Madison, Wisconsin, in December 2009. Heroes won,In the aftermath, he gets a lion's share of the credit in the Endbringer defeat like Eidolon did with the Simurgh in Madison. - Comment by wildbow on Reddit but as in previous attacks the aftermath necessitated the quarantine of the city. The Travelers were created as a by-product of this attack, which set the stage for multiple other events. The Simurgh also attacked Canberra on February 24th, 2011; the event was a Scion no-show, but a Legend/Eidolon victory.Scarab 25.6 The aftermath of this attack necessitated the construction of a dome around the city.Interlude 26.x This was a factor in Canary having a highly biased trial that sent her to the birdcage.Wildbow: Think of it in terms of political context, the simurgh attack on Australia being recent & rather a loss for the good guys, her being a Simurgh-alike, news & public perception turning on her, and other factors playing in. For Canary's court case ending up an uphill battle. People are ~scared~ of mind/emotion control. - Wildbow on Discord, Archived on Spacebattles Post-Slaughterhouse Nine The Travelers and the emergence of The Echidna performed their intended function, it is unknown if the resultant portal was planned. The revelation of Cauldron to the larger parahuman community and the subsequent schisms in The Protectorate was likely planned. Prevented Dragon finding out crucial information from Panacea.Interlude 16.z Post-Echidna The Simurgh's use of the Travelers culminates in the near-assassination of Chevalier and Tattletale and the death of Accord by the expelled Traveler member Perdition at New Delhi. It is unknown whether the death of Behemoth was predicted, given Scion's and Eidolon's interference. Timeskip Attacked Paris on December 19th 2012 and opened a portal to Earth Shin.Paris, December 19th, 2012 // Simurgh Notes: Victory by Scion. Target/Consequence: see file The Woman in Blue. See file United Capes. - Excerpt from Scarab 25.6 Gold Morning Was recruited by the Undersiders and the Guild into the effort against Zion. Her first mission was to fight off The Yàngbǎn.Cockroaches 28.4 Later, after her sibling Leviathan was used to punish The Elite, she upgraded him. It is unknown if the Simurgh was involved in the creation of Khepri. She was able to fake her destruction at Zion's hands and helped to break his mind.Speck 30.6 Post-Gold Morning Apparently, tried to clone Eidolon only for it to be destroyed.Teneral e.5 Ward She is recorded as being inactive for the two years since.“The remaining Endbringers are quiet,” Capricorn said. - Excerpt from Beacon 8.12 Post-Goddess' Takeover Reports had it as her being active again,“This was easy,” she said. “A touch sad, but easy. You were dealing with the Simurgh.” “She was restless but we can’t figure out what she was actually doing. It was scary but it was easy, as you put it. You can’t keep going like this. Why don’t you go back to the city and relax? Sit around in your comfortable clothes and watch movies. Go hang out with friends- I know you have a standing invitation from an old friend of mine.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9 II her intentions were unknown.There were other things. News. Status of Class-S threats… :Sleeper; active :Machine Army; 4.83% growth since last check, active :Endbringers; one dormant, one active, others dead or unknown locations. Active Endbringer. She zeroed in on that. A few mouse clicks brought her to a site that tracked the Simurgh. The activity was only a renewed cluster of sightings. Not an attack. The Simurgh was somewhere near Bet’s Indonesia. Not flying as she’d once done, either. Floating around. Facilities and factories in the area had been repurposed into accommodations. People in the area were hunkered down, enduring life on new Bet instead of moving on to new places, leaning on some risky non-tinker tech advances. Going the sci-fi route in tackling what Bet was going through. Those same people were responsible for the flurry of reports about the Simurgh, which had led to her being flagged ‘active’. - Excerpt from Interlude 10.x II Post-Assault on the Time Bubbles After Dauntless undergoes a broken trigger and merges with his shard, the Simurgh approaches the Kronos Titan and begins 'whispering to it'.Heavens 12.none. Post-Attack on Teacher Ziz abandoned her perch for a moment after the encounter with Chevalier.Sundown 17.6 But returned back after the threat had passed.Sundown 17.7 Post-Ice Break Simurgh switched her nest from Kronos to Fortuna.Radiation 18.2 According to the Wardens' think-tank Simurgh scrambles Fortuna's communication."Tattletale said the thinkers are analyzing Titan Fortuna and the Simurgh. With those two you can never be sure, but it looks like they aren’t aligned. The Simurgh is interfering with the information Fortuna is trying to transmit to her network.” - Excerpt from Radiation 18.9 Simurgh had managed to outplan the titan. Their duel was interrupted by the interference in The Shardspace.Radiation 18.z Quotes :"She seemed human, but fifteen or so feet tall, waif-thin, and unclothed. Her hair whipped around her, nearly as long as she was tall and platinum-white. The most shocking part of it all was the wings; she had so many, asymmetrical and illogical in their arrangement, each with pristine white feathers. The three largest wings folded around her protectively, far too large in proportion to her body, even with her height. Other wings of varying size fanned out from the joints of others, from the wing tips, and from her spine. Some seemed to be positioned to give the illusion of modesty, angled around her chest and pelvis." - Migration 17.1 :"She turned to one side, and Krouse could make out her face. Her features were delicate with high cheekbones. Her eyes were gray from corner to corner. And cold. There was nothing he could point to, no particular feature or quality that could help him explain why or how, but seeing her face made it harder to ascribe any kind of human quality to her. If he’d been thinking she had a sense of modesty before, he didn’t now." - Migration 17.1 Trivia *This article includes information from a chapter that Wildbow said he would likely change later. *Has a habit of attacking a country's capital. *"Simurgh" is a benevolent, mythical flying creature. It is sometimes equated with other mythological birds such as Arabic Anqā, Persian Homā or Turkic Kerkés, Semrug, Semurg, Samran, and Samruk. *"Ziz" is the third creature in what can be called an Abrahamic trinity of beasts. As Leviathan is first among the creatures of the water, and Behemoth is first among the creatures of the land, Ziz is first among the creatures of the air. This serves as a larger clue to the Endbringers' constructed nature that they deliberately tap into these belief structures. *A branch of The Fallen was themed around the Simurgh, high profile members dressed in white.Pitch 6.2 *In Isaiah 6:2, above the throne of God "...were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying." In the Bible "feet" often stood as a euphemism for genitalia (Deut 28: 57) (Ezekiel 16:25). Simurgh's multiple wings and attempt at modesty might, therefore, be a reference to Biblical seraphim. 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